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Ideal Cities
“These poems are so generous, so bright and sharp, so funny and winning, they feel immense.”
—Paul Guest “Erika Meitner is the new voice of intelligent and emotional poems. Good for poetry. Good for poetry lovers. Good for the rest of us, too.”
— Nikki Giovanni Exploring themes of pregnancy, motherhood, ancestry, and life in the borderline slums of Washington, DC, the richly felt and adroit poetry of Erika Meitner’s Ideal Cities moves, mesmerizes, and delights. The work of an important emerging voice in contemporary American poetry—a winner of the 2009 National Poetry Series Prize as selected by Paul Guest— Ideal Cities gloriously perpetuates NPS’s long-standing tradition of promoting exceptional poetry from lesser-known poets.
—Paul Guest “Erika Meitner is the new voice of intelligent and emotional poems. Good for poetry. Good for poetry lovers. Good for the rest of us, too.”
— Nikki Giovanni Exploring themes of pregnancy, motherhood, ancestry, and life in the borderline slums of Washington, DC, the richly felt and adroit poetry of Erika Meitner’s Ideal Cities moves, mesmerizes, and delights. The work of an important emerging voice in contemporary American poetry—a winner of the 2009 National Poetry Series Prize as selected by Paul Guest— Ideal Cities gloriously perpetuates NPS’s long-standing tradition of promoting exceptional poetry from lesser-known poets.
- GenresPoetry
86 pages, Paperback
First published August 17, 2010
12 people are currently reading
141 people want to read
About the author
Erika Meitner
12 books41 followersErika Meitner is the author of 6 books of poems, including Makeshift Instructions for Vigilant Girls (Anhinga Press, 2011); Ideal Cities (Harper Perennial, 2010), which was a 2009 National Poetry Series winner; Copia (BOA Editions, 2014); and Holy Moly Carry Me (BOA Editions, 2018), which was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award in poetry, and the winner of the National Jewish Book Award in Poetry. Her most recent book, Useful Junk, is due out from BOA Editions in April of 2022. Her work has appeared most recently in The New Yorker, The Believer,VQR, Orion, The New Republic and elsewhere. She is currently a professor of English at Virginia Tech.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 24, 2010
The concerns of motherhood and moving to a new town (and job), as well as some personal and family history, dominate Erika Meitner’s first collection. On surface, this is pretty standard stuff, but Meitner’s voice is a fresh one, taking everyday experiences and animating them with humor, worries, and sympathy. She approaches her various themes through a variety of forms, with narrative poems – which work best for her – predominating, since it allows her warm voice establish itself with the reader. On a personal front, one thing I liked was the shared geography -- I'm from Virginia, and work in D.C.. At one time Meitner lived in Washington D.C. area, so familiar place names keep cropping up. In one poem, “We Need to Make Things Up,” she mentions a Chinese guy getting up on the Orange Line, and singing “Silent Night.” I’ve seen that guy!
The collection opens with a stunner, “North Slope Borough.” However, as much as I liked this poem, it didn’t seem to match the tone of what was to follow. As I said above, motherhood and a change of environment seem are the themes that dominate the collection. For some reason the collection is divided in two parts titled “Rental Towns” and “Ideal Cities.” I couldn’t really distinguish the reason for this, other than the Poet changing towns. But the content of some poems could easily place poems in different sections. Whatever. It’s the poems themselves that often shine. Meitner’s background is Jewish, with a new found home in Blacksburg, Virginia (Virginia Tech). Clearly, there is some cultural readjustment going on, as several poems reference The Rapture (“Pediatric Eschatology”), getting Saved (“Schools of Prophetic Interpretation”), and one Monster Truck Rally (“Massive Destruction”). Meitner doesn’t seem to regret her move, but records her observations with a kind of bewildered WTF humor.
Fundamentalism aside, Meitner does show an interest in religion (she’s currently pursuing a doctorate in religious studies at the University of Virginia), and this shows in many of her poems. Words like “Epiphany,” “Eschatology” (I hate to have to have typed that twice), “Menorah,” and many others, keep cropping up. Meitner’s no star-gazer, but integrates these familiar symbols into her every day experience. However, on one occasion, in the poem “Pharaoh’s Daughter,” she steps out of time, into a biblical setting, and sounds, I swear, like Geoffrey Hill (this is very high praise from me):
Salvation is not to be born again
Salvation is a long way down;
I repent often
by breaking myself
and entering.
When the Angel Gabriel appeared
he said, Lady, night has spit me out.
(Note: The spacing above is not reflective of what appears on the page.)
I’m tempted to call this the best poem in the collection, but I don’t think it reflects her poetry (at this time at least) in general. Wherever her poetry takes her, I think Meitner is a poet to watch. Below is a link to the poet’s website. You can check out some of her poems there.
http://www.erikameitner.com/
The collection opens with a stunner, “North Slope Borough.” However, as much as I liked this poem, it didn’t seem to match the tone of what was to follow. As I said above, motherhood and a change of environment seem are the themes that dominate the collection. For some reason the collection is divided in two parts titled “Rental Towns” and “Ideal Cities.” I couldn’t really distinguish the reason for this, other than the Poet changing towns. But the content of some poems could easily place poems in different sections. Whatever. It’s the poems themselves that often shine. Meitner’s background is Jewish, with a new found home in Blacksburg, Virginia (Virginia Tech). Clearly, there is some cultural readjustment going on, as several poems reference The Rapture (“Pediatric Eschatology”), getting Saved (“Schools of Prophetic Interpretation”), and one Monster Truck Rally (“Massive Destruction”). Meitner doesn’t seem to regret her move, but records her observations with a kind of bewildered WTF humor.
Fundamentalism aside, Meitner does show an interest in religion (she’s currently pursuing a doctorate in religious studies at the University of Virginia), and this shows in many of her poems. Words like “Epiphany,” “Eschatology” (I hate to have to have typed that twice), “Menorah,” and many others, keep cropping up. Meitner’s no star-gazer, but integrates these familiar symbols into her every day experience. However, on one occasion, in the poem “Pharaoh’s Daughter,” she steps out of time, into a biblical setting, and sounds, I swear, like Geoffrey Hill (this is very high praise from me):
Salvation is not to be born again
Salvation is a long way down;
I repent often
by breaking myself
and entering.
When the Angel Gabriel appeared
he said, Lady, night has spit me out.
(Note: The spacing above is not reflective of what appears on the page.)
I’m tempted to call this the best poem in the collection, but I don’t think it reflects her poetry (at this time at least) in general. Wherever her poetry takes her, I think Meitner is a poet to watch. Below is a link to the poet’s website. You can check out some of her poems there.
http://www.erikameitner.com/
June 29, 2011
Erika Meitner’s narrative poems are edgy and in-your-face sassy. Strong word choices predominate. Their rhythm resonates long after I’ve closed the book, calling me back to re-read. Don’t be misled by seemingly ordinary topics as her writing is anything but ordinary. She writes to document, to honor, to remember. She often tempers the darker subjects with a dash of humor.
Many of these poems are long, and yet while reading, they don’t feel as though they should have ended on the page before. Meitner captures the feeling of geography and uses the various places she’s lived or visited as back drops. She writes about relationships, pregnancy, being a new mother. In “The Upstairs Notebook” she writes about how she was going to take her infant son to see the elephants at the circus but it was just too much work to gather up all the supplies needed to go out with a new baby
The title poem, Ideal Cities, has effervescent lines such as:
“Ideal cities are cities where the neighbors
play soul music all night long & don’t care”
and
“…….In ideal cities your neighbor sells pot to the cops
for a living,though you’ve never seen him do it & most days
he wears a caftan to glue rhinestones on the cement frogs”
Even her titles sing: The Violent Legacy of Household Monogamy, Preventing Teen Cough Medicine Abuse.
Her prose poem, “The Chimneys in New Jersey”, is exquisite.
Many of these poems are long, and yet while reading, they don’t feel as though they should have ended on the page before. Meitner captures the feeling of geography and uses the various places she’s lived or visited as back drops. She writes about relationships, pregnancy, being a new mother. In “The Upstairs Notebook” she writes about how she was going to take her infant son to see the elephants at the circus but it was just too much work to gather up all the supplies needed to go out with a new baby
The title poem, Ideal Cities, has effervescent lines such as:
“Ideal cities are cities where the neighbors
play soul music all night long & don’t care”
and
“…….In ideal cities your neighbor sells pot to the cops
for a living,though you’ve never seen him do it & most days
he wears a caftan to glue rhinestones on the cement frogs”
Even her titles sing: The Violent Legacy of Household Monogamy, Preventing Teen Cough Medicine Abuse.
Her prose poem, “The Chimneys in New Jersey”, is exquisite.
October 31, 2023
Hats come off for the star--
spangled banner, for the relatives in the service, for the impetus
to fuck shit up, like Iraq, and eardrums, like the line of '70s junkers
in the center of the dirt arena--faithful carcasses of joyrides,
work commutes, and family road trips waiting to be compacted
like so much patient trash.
from "Massive Destruction: Monster Truck Rally (Fishersville, Virginia)"
I recently read Erika Meitner's collection Holy Moly Carry Me and was blown away. It remains--even after reading Ideal Cities--my favorite collection. There were signs of the controlled chaos inherent in Holy Moly, but at times Meitner is working in a different vein thematically or structurally. I enjoyed much of the verse here, but it doesn't maintain consistency of focus.
I will continue to read Meitner and hope to duplicate the experience the thematic and emotional depth of Holy Moly again. When Meitner is on fire, she's amazing. One of my favorite contemporary poets working the scene.
The circus is in town,
and I am transferring singular objects--
my breast pump, my My Breast Friend
inflatable nursing pillow, my hands-free
pumping bra, my son--from one floor
of our rented row house to another.
This is a many-step process.
This takes longer than orthodontia,
some honeymoons, or a story told
by a kindergartener.
from The Upstairs Notebook
spangled banner, for the relatives in the service, for the impetus
to fuck shit up, like Iraq, and eardrums, like the line of '70s junkers
in the center of the dirt arena--faithful carcasses of joyrides,
work commutes, and family road trips waiting to be compacted
like so much patient trash.
from "Massive Destruction: Monster Truck Rally (Fishersville, Virginia)"
I recently read Erika Meitner's collection Holy Moly Carry Me and was blown away. It remains--even after reading Ideal Cities--my favorite collection. There were signs of the controlled chaos inherent in Holy Moly, but at times Meitner is working in a different vein thematically or structurally. I enjoyed much of the verse here, but it doesn't maintain consistency of focus.
I will continue to read Meitner and hope to duplicate the experience the thematic and emotional depth of Holy Moly again. When Meitner is on fire, she's amazing. One of my favorite contemporary poets working the scene.
The circus is in town,
and I am transferring singular objects--
my breast pump, my My Breast Friend
inflatable nursing pillow, my hands-free
pumping bra, my son--from one floor
of our rented row house to another.
This is a many-step process.
This takes longer than orthodontia,
some honeymoons, or a story told
by a kindergartener.
from The Upstairs Notebook
January 10, 2019
I came across Erika Meitner through an advertisement for one of her upcoming lectures that will be held in my home town. Luckily I was able to track down this collection of hers at the public library, and found it to say a lot about the author I hope to hear in person come this spring.
The intriguing thing about Meitner's "Ideal Cities" was how I felt a stronger connection and understanding to her words based on the imagery it brought to mind, instead of the shared understanding of her subtext. While some of the poems required a tad more effort to decipher and comprehend, there were those that were rather revolutionary yet all too familiar.
Despite the stretch I had to make in reading and re-reading her work, I would still recommend this collection for anyone who is looking to take a step further into the diversity and intensity of poetry.
The intriguing thing about Meitner's "Ideal Cities" was how I felt a stronger connection and understanding to her words based on the imagery it brought to mind, instead of the shared understanding of her subtext. While some of the poems required a tad more effort to decipher and comprehend, there were those that were rather revolutionary yet all too familiar.
Despite the stretch I had to make in reading and re-reading her work, I would still recommend this collection for anyone who is looking to take a step further into the diversity and intensity of poetry.
January 6, 2020
“Desire is serendipity, is pity, is blind, is danger, is not / obligation, is poking the most / alien thing with a stick to see / if it stirs and clings”
I enjoyed the majority of these poems. I thought the language and metaphors were very creative.
I enjoyed the majority of these poems. I thought the language and metaphors were very creative.
April 27, 2020
This was my second book of Meitner’s poetry after Holy Moly Land. I love her poetry, the way she writes about family, inheritance, motherhood, and place. These poems are easy to read—easy in that you are instant drawn in and don’t want to put the book down.
Read
February 13, 2025The poems about motherhood were her best.
January 24, 2012
Loved the first section of this book of poetry, "Rental Towns," in part because the poems flowed like Matthew Dickman's--taking these very real moments and turning them into captured moments full of poeticism, full of the beauty of the fleeting.
The second section took a more religious view and the poems seemed, to me, more forced, less grounded (overall) in the real. That being said, I only skipped one poem in this entire book and that poem was in the second section where I just couldn't root myself in the poem or the form and certainly not for 3-4 pages.
Meitner reminds us that some stories are not ours to tell and in so many of these poems promotes gentleness without being "wooey"
From the title poem:
...In the ideal city
my neighbor is a taxi driver.
My neighbor is at sea.
My neighbor thinks
his house is haunted
while his wife's away
on business. My neighbor
gives a robber a glass
of Chateau Malescot St-Exupery
and a hug. In the ideal city my neighbors
are a multi-generational
family & one guy
who puts chairs
in the street
to save a spot
for our moving truck.
The second section took a more religious view and the poems seemed, to me, more forced, less grounded (overall) in the real. That being said, I only skipped one poem in this entire book and that poem was in the second section where I just couldn't root myself in the poem or the form and certainly not for 3-4 pages.
Meitner reminds us that some stories are not ours to tell and in so many of these poems promotes gentleness without being "wooey"
From the title poem:
...In the ideal city
my neighbor is a taxi driver.
My neighbor is at sea.
My neighbor thinks
his house is haunted
while his wife's away
on business. My neighbor
gives a robber a glass
of Chateau Malescot St-Exupery
and a hug. In the ideal city my neighbors
are a multi-generational
family & one guy
who puts chairs
in the street
to save a spot
for our moving truck.
August 15, 2011
Ideal Cities by Erika Meitner, whom I interviewed in 2009, was published in 2010 by Harper Perennial as part of the National Poetry Series selected by Paul Guest. The collection is broken down into two sections: Rental Towns and Ideal Cities. Rental towns appears to be at first glance about the transient nature of apartment or rental living, but on a deeper level its about the transient nature of our lives and how quickly we all want to grow up and become adults. There zipping through memories and moments reminds us that our childhood moves too quickly and so innocence is gone before we realize it. “The windows on the soon-to-be luxury/condos across the way say things/to the darkness I can’t hear. Sometimes/they’re blocked by the train masticating/its way across town. Now and then//” (from Vinyl-Sided Epiphany, page 5-6)
Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2011/08/i...
Read the full review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2011/08/i...
September 7, 2023
A collection of poems with themes of motherhood, family, and identity.
from Vinyl-Sided Epiphany: "Now and then // I can interpret their blank banter, / reminiscent of that ribbon gymnastics / no one ever watches during the Olympics."
from Small, Generic Night Towns: "it doesn't seem like an accident / that summer is always gin-soaked / and static with // hush-hush wishes and / furtive sadness of // night growing / larger than us"
from Pediatric Eschatology: "yet no one wrote / in the manual about what to do if your pediatrician's / office is in a methadone clinic but you like him— / the way he cradles your asymptomatic son, / explains slowly about developmental milestones / and is so calm he's one valium from unconscious, / and aren't we all addicts to something like the rapture / which will bring both blessing and sorrow?"
from Vinyl-Sided Epiphany: "Now and then // I can interpret their blank banter, / reminiscent of that ribbon gymnastics / no one ever watches during the Olympics."
from Small, Generic Night Towns: "it doesn't seem like an accident / that summer is always gin-soaked / and static with // hush-hush wishes and / furtive sadness of // night growing / larger than us"
from Pediatric Eschatology: "yet no one wrote / in the manual about what to do if your pediatrician's / office is in a methadone clinic but you like him— / the way he cradles your asymptomatic son, / explains slowly about developmental milestones / and is so calm he's one valium from unconscious, / and aren't we all addicts to something like the rapture / which will bring both blessing and sorrow?"
September 13, 2012
I really loved this collection. We read it for the store's poetry group and many of the poems really struck a chord with me. In the first half of the book the poems are often about being adrift in the world while in the second Meitner seems to be trying to claim a place as her own.
She's got humor, a variety of styles and engaging narratives working for her. My favorites were mostly towards the end of the book including Elegy with Construction Sounds, Water, Fish and Godspell.
She's got humor, a variety of styles and engaging narratives working for her. My favorites were mostly towards the end of the book including Elegy with Construction Sounds, Water, Fish and Godspell.
November 30, 2010
One of my favorite new poets. I met Erika and she's just as lovely in person as she was when I interviewed her via GChat. These poems are complex, fluid, introspective, and fun.
April 16, 2012
Lovely poems filled with family and personal narratives, lots involving children and newborns. Sharp language, great attention to detail.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews